Ed in SoDak
Member
Yes, it's here and what a machine! Got my new T2 from Jeff today and am I a happy camper!
It's simple to run but has enough adjustments to keep both "turn on and go" or the "knob twisters" happy. It's not so hard to comprehend that you need to rush to a manual for any of it.
Here's a real quick, slap-dash review, based wholly on first impressions and mostly air tests, followed by just a few minutes in the front yard before the snow started falling. Once you've had your hands on one, tell me if you agree or not on anything I report.
When you read a review in a magazine, this would be like the part where they talk about features, open it up and turn it on. The field test is separate and conducted later.
This, then, is Part One of my review.
Yes, I'm certain more testing and experience will change my opinions on some things. Other things are determined well enough for an initial impression to be formed by air tests and simple cruises in a test bed. So that's what we did this afternoon as soon as we got it home.
Throughout this review, I make comparisons between the T2 and my Time Ranger and Gold Bug 1.
Basically, I had almost a zero learning curve. Learning the various tone signatures and other nuances may take time, as you find different targets under varying soil conditions and assimilate the sounds and ID to what it all might mean. That indicates you grow into it with practice. It's good to have a little more power lurking than you can master first try, but it's easy enough to "go make beeps" right away.
I've only read the online manual once and followed the forum posts. From that brief introduction, I knew how to operate it right out of the box. I only needed the manual to verify the direction of the batteries. Hey, I've seen springs used on the positive terminal, just making sure! ;-) Battery polarity markings on the case somewhere would be a nice confirmation. I used 4 NimH AA's stolen from my digital camera. No probs.
It was fun to skip the manual and "discover" things about it, without reading about them first. Like the nice, big, not-too-jumpy depth figure in pinpoint mode. Or the Disc setting matching the ID. High marks awarded for "Hey, cool, it does that!?" factor.
The Time Ranger has a full-time depth readout which is fun to watch, though often misleading, but the T2's just seems "bettah". In a 10-minute yard test, I pegged a 10-12" deep, coin-ID mystery object in my yard that will definitely need to be dug up in the spring. I've tested every machine I own in this small plot of clods and rocks we call a lawn. It's littered with 22 shells, nails, hot rocks, junk, but also holds 1900's china shards and odd, small rusty iron relics. I've never, till now with the T2, read a deep, "good" signal in it, but have suspected there should be one around here, as it's an old mining claim and homestead. It might be just trash, but says Dig Me. The ground's frozen solid, so more on this mystery object later.
I did not compare the T2 outdoors with my other detectors, it will be interesting to do a side-by-side in my yard against the GB1 and TR. I can also access a couple White's machines to broaden the test base if I get the urge.
The Alien is lightweight, with great balance, good heft, waaay adjustable. Easy swing. A breeze to use thus far. I know that doesn't mean a lot so soon, but yeah, I like the feel. Coil has impressive "big" look to it, but pinpoints great. I like the large range of adjustability of pole length and armrest to adjust the fit to yourself.
I also like that it powers up in disc instead of all metal, like the TR does. On the TR, ground balance is automatic in Disc-mode anyway, so ground balancing is not needed for disc. So the T2 wins at powerup ease.
I would change a number of things on the T2. Please remember these are only my very first impressions, so I'm tempering them a bit till I can prove them out one way or the other.
Worst so far is a beer can reads 81, in the middle of the coin range, just below a penny (83) and dime (85), but the disc only goes up to 80. Thus, there's apparently no way to put aluminum cans on "ignore".
Probably by the ID of 81, the overload alert, pinpointing as a larger object or by using another audio mode, I should be able to ID them accurately in the field.
I don't have any screwcaps on hand right now, so that's another test that will have to wait for nicer weather, so I can go find some. ;-)
T2's ID seems very stable, not nearly as wide of a range to a specific item as with the TR. Good, I like that a lot. Jumpy ID on either machine can mean dual targets or trash. I think the overall ID stability of the T2 will serve it well here. Air tests of a brass 22 bullet casing put it at about a 50, well below a nickel. Happy dance! Looks good so far reading my common trash items. Some jewelry, gold and also meteorites might jump in ID, so it's not a perfect system.
When in doubt...dig. More later on all this ID stuff.
The Alien read a washer and quarter right next to one another well enough for me to want to investigate. This looks very, very good. Target recognition is warp speed, I've never seen such fast response and ID action. WOW. It's apparently all I've read about. Take any target and wave it against the coil, as fast as you possibly can. See what I mean? Now, take two targets, and try the combined responses with various approaches to the coil and orientations between the test objects at different speeds. Most Interesting!
Reading a trash item in the yard, then tossing a quarter down at the same spot turned the signal to a high tone. In several trash spots. Without messing with settings. I liked that mucho mucho.
The coil cable and connector are for sure a big improvement over the cheaper BH style. But check out a Gold Bug for a comparison. Hmmm, the GB's still much better in the cabling and connector departments. With only the stock coil available for the T2, this is mostly a non-issue till the release of other coils. ;-)
On the other hand, in a relatively high-end machine, it is these "little things" that can go a long ways towards impressing an owner with the quality, durability and functionality of a machine. Hone these subtle fine points, and you'll find your detector ranks higher because of the attention to detail and investment in quality "stuff". Nobody much sees the innards. All they have to go by are the looks, heft, and "feel". I think the T2 is a step in the right direction, but the concept could be taken further. Nuff said!
Battery compartment is a winner all around. Best I've seen on an MD. Saying goodbye to 9 volt batteries is a godsend. Love the switch and volume! I easily added that to my TR, but that machine should have come with it.
I'd rather have the T2's volume/switch located on the control box, though. Also, not much to show the dang thing's even turned on! The TR's screen is blank till powered, so a glance shows status of power. One might leave the T2 turned on and not necessarily know it, with all the always-on graphics. I'll figure it out to look for the battery strength to tell.
Attachment ears on the coil seem thin, but we shall see, I think they'll hold. The plastic bolt on mine was too short to fully engage the knob for really secure coil fastening. This is an issue, but I'll just find a non-metallic replacement in the hardware store plumbing section or my junk drawer. Maybe the other end of the shaft was inserted too far into its knob. Without adequate length of shaft to grab the knob, the threads will strip. Shoulda been a bit longer.
Despite those negs, I don't think it's a pansy. Though it's light, it doesn't seem flimsy or like it might fail in the field. Reasonable care should yield a lifetime of hunting. Any looseness of parts over time looks like it can be tightened up with the screws. My TR has proven itself to be rugged and has taken a few rolls and tumbles in stride. I wouldn't use either machine as a canoe paddle. Open loop coil, ya know? In an emergency, who knows? They might paddle just fine in all metal mode. ;-) But I think it'll be okay in the field. The TR, with it's roundish outline, would tend to roll down a slope, while the T2's oval coil, when laid on its long side lends a lot to helping keep it put.
GB in the yard was a breeze. First try was super fast and easy. Another winner so far. I didn't note ground or iron readings, getting dark, cold and windy. This is just first impressions, not too specific on anything till I try it more. It will be fun to test my property for iron and minerals. I know it's highly varied here.
Controls. At first blush, I prefer the individual pushbuttons/controls of the Time Ranger, plus the fact all those settings are always visible and adjustable without stepping through menus. The T2 does not display disc settings, modes, etc. constantly so one might know at a glance where everything's set. If you forget your settings, you must navigate the menus to remind yourself. But, menu navigation is easy, so push/push/push and you're reminded. I'm not as used to a menu-driven, minimal-button interface, as other detectorists might be.
The T2's ID goes blank in a few seconds, while the TR keeps the last ID indefinitely till the next target. It's nice to detect in odd positions, or air-sweep something by the coil, then go to the display for the ID. Gotta be quick on the T2. This display "hold time" should be lengthened a second or two.
However, to be fair, with the TR, in faint signal situations, it was sometimes hard to tell if additional sweeps had acquired anything new, so sometimes I had to "clear' the ID by scanning a junk item to change it.
Again, the custom notch feature of the TR is a plus. The T2 lacks this, having only progressive disc. I usually hunt with disc as low as I can stand anyway, and rely on tone/ID, so this may be somewhat moot.
I think I like all coins, including nickels, having a high tone. I know the wife does for sure. She has a hard time remembering how to run the TR. She'll love this machine once she gets a chance to try it. An option for "BH-style" tones that puts nickels low might be cool too.
It's entirely possible that an additional "expert menu" could be added to future designs to accomodate some of these little operating tweaks. About that time, it might be good to also add a "save" feature to set one's own defaults for everything, with an option to return to factory settings if things get out of control.
On the T2, the wonderful, wide range of the detented, digital control and ability to return to a specific setting is nice. ID number and Disc numbers match, that's really, really cool. Somebody was using their noodle in designing this puppy.
The TR is also easy to return to specific settings. But the TR disc is in wide, preset chunks and not in fine increments like on the T2. Quick and effective in the field though. Stab a disc preset and proceed. No more iron. Stab again. No more foil.
That's just another reason to keep both machines in the arsenal. I wanted to keep the TR anyway, it's good to find some justification to do so!
Speaker's in a wierd place, hard to hear. For myself, I think I'd run a cord and velcro a small external speaker jobbie onto the control head or somewhere that it faces me. I wear eyeglasses and don't care to use headphones for long periods.
Some of the audio tones remind me of the Gold Bug. I think the T2 will tell you a lot more, once you learn the Alien's language.
The overload alert sounds like a K-Mart Blue Light Special, lol! We know it's a large signal alert, but I bet uneducated bystanders think it's the "Motherlode" being discovered! Makes me laugh hearing it! I can imagine me detecting on a crowded beach. Suddenly, WEEOOOWEEOOWEEOO- "Grab a shovel boys, Ed's found the big one!!" Then, moments later, "Damn! another freakin' 81! awww..."
Maybe they can adjust this so it only sounds off on Atocha-sized treasures, LOL!
Some objects made multiple blips going past the coil, but the center's always pretty obvious. Pinpointing is good in Disc and even better with no-motion. I like the trigger switchover to true no-motion all-metal. Much better than the awkward finger-stab and pause for GB that the TR requires. Maybe it's because I'm a lefty that I find that switch to no-motion and back to disc on the TR difficult to make.
Some small gold nuggets together in a vial gave an impressive (for their size) 3 to 4" distance. It also read a stony meteorite with no problems. Good, very good. Taking the largest individual nug, the T2 read it at 1 5/8", while it had to be moved closer than that for the Gold bug to pick it up with the same relative strength. The Time Ranger with 4" coil did not make a peep on this nug, which, incidentally, was found with the Gold Bug being tested here.
To give credit where's it's due, a very tiny flake nugget that would not detect on the T2 in disc mode, did make a small peep when scrubbed on the Gold Bug's stock coil.
And on the other hand, by pushing the T2's switch to pinpoint no-motion mode, it added another full inch to the depth of my air test, easily beating, by that inch or more, the GB1's best figure of 1.5 inches. Indoor interferance and hand capacitance stopped me from testing the tiniest nugs very well in pinpoint mode. It might prove hard to utilize this sensitivity in the field, but it's sure nice to see it available to tap if conditions are right, to where things can be cranked up near the max without falsing. Another Big Wow.
For any "coinshooter" machine to compare favorably to the Gold Bug 1 on small nugs in air tests is a definite plus. It may not do as well against the higher-frequency GB2, but I don't have that machine to compare against. Just going by the air tests so far on nugs and meteorites, I am suitably impressed.
The wife likes the Alien, too, but not so much we're ordering another immediately. Got that new big screen TV and my T2 to pay for first!
Well, that's the gist of my first impressions. Not bad for an hour or so of checking it out, eh? ;-) Took a whole lot longer to write it! Overall, pretty good score, I'm impressed, probably we got us a keeper. Worst thing thus far, beer can in the coin range. So, not sure if it'll replace the TR. The two machines each have their style, I feel it's worth it to have both. However, I'm already pretty sure the Gold Bug will be heading out the door. And that's a major statement in itself.
Thanks, Jeff! You've made my year!
-Ed
It's simple to run but has enough adjustments to keep both "turn on and go" or the "knob twisters" happy. It's not so hard to comprehend that you need to rush to a manual for any of it.
Here's a real quick, slap-dash review, based wholly on first impressions and mostly air tests, followed by just a few minutes in the front yard before the snow started falling. Once you've had your hands on one, tell me if you agree or not on anything I report.
When you read a review in a magazine, this would be like the part where they talk about features, open it up and turn it on. The field test is separate and conducted later.
This, then, is Part One of my review.
Yes, I'm certain more testing and experience will change my opinions on some things. Other things are determined well enough for an initial impression to be formed by air tests and simple cruises in a test bed. So that's what we did this afternoon as soon as we got it home.
Throughout this review, I make comparisons between the T2 and my Time Ranger and Gold Bug 1.
Basically, I had almost a zero learning curve. Learning the various tone signatures and other nuances may take time, as you find different targets under varying soil conditions and assimilate the sounds and ID to what it all might mean. That indicates you grow into it with practice. It's good to have a little more power lurking than you can master first try, but it's easy enough to "go make beeps" right away.
I've only read the online manual once and followed the forum posts. From that brief introduction, I knew how to operate it right out of the box. I only needed the manual to verify the direction of the batteries. Hey, I've seen springs used on the positive terminal, just making sure! ;-) Battery polarity markings on the case somewhere would be a nice confirmation. I used 4 NimH AA's stolen from my digital camera. No probs.
It was fun to skip the manual and "discover" things about it, without reading about them first. Like the nice, big, not-too-jumpy depth figure in pinpoint mode. Or the Disc setting matching the ID. High marks awarded for "Hey, cool, it does that!?" factor.
The Time Ranger has a full-time depth readout which is fun to watch, though often misleading, but the T2's just seems "bettah". In a 10-minute yard test, I pegged a 10-12" deep, coin-ID mystery object in my yard that will definitely need to be dug up in the spring. I've tested every machine I own in this small plot of clods and rocks we call a lawn. It's littered with 22 shells, nails, hot rocks, junk, but also holds 1900's china shards and odd, small rusty iron relics. I've never, till now with the T2, read a deep, "good" signal in it, but have suspected there should be one around here, as it's an old mining claim and homestead. It might be just trash, but says Dig Me. The ground's frozen solid, so more on this mystery object later.
I did not compare the T2 outdoors with my other detectors, it will be interesting to do a side-by-side in my yard against the GB1 and TR. I can also access a couple White's machines to broaden the test base if I get the urge.
The Alien is lightweight, with great balance, good heft, waaay adjustable. Easy swing. A breeze to use thus far. I know that doesn't mean a lot so soon, but yeah, I like the feel. Coil has impressive "big" look to it, but pinpoints great. I like the large range of adjustability of pole length and armrest to adjust the fit to yourself.
I also like that it powers up in disc instead of all metal, like the TR does. On the TR, ground balance is automatic in Disc-mode anyway, so ground balancing is not needed for disc. So the T2 wins at powerup ease.
I would change a number of things on the T2. Please remember these are only my very first impressions, so I'm tempering them a bit till I can prove them out one way or the other.
Worst so far is a beer can reads 81, in the middle of the coin range, just below a penny (83) and dime (85), but the disc only goes up to 80. Thus, there's apparently no way to put aluminum cans on "ignore".
Probably by the ID of 81, the overload alert, pinpointing as a larger object or by using another audio mode, I should be able to ID them accurately in the field.
I don't have any screwcaps on hand right now, so that's another test that will have to wait for nicer weather, so I can go find some. ;-)
T2's ID seems very stable, not nearly as wide of a range to a specific item as with the TR. Good, I like that a lot. Jumpy ID on either machine can mean dual targets or trash. I think the overall ID stability of the T2 will serve it well here. Air tests of a brass 22 bullet casing put it at about a 50, well below a nickel. Happy dance! Looks good so far reading my common trash items. Some jewelry, gold and also meteorites might jump in ID, so it's not a perfect system.
When in doubt...dig. More later on all this ID stuff.
The Alien read a washer and quarter right next to one another well enough for me to want to investigate. This looks very, very good. Target recognition is warp speed, I've never seen such fast response and ID action. WOW. It's apparently all I've read about. Take any target and wave it against the coil, as fast as you possibly can. See what I mean? Now, take two targets, and try the combined responses with various approaches to the coil and orientations between the test objects at different speeds. Most Interesting!
Reading a trash item in the yard, then tossing a quarter down at the same spot turned the signal to a high tone. In several trash spots. Without messing with settings. I liked that mucho mucho.
The coil cable and connector are for sure a big improvement over the cheaper BH style. But check out a Gold Bug for a comparison. Hmmm, the GB's still much better in the cabling and connector departments. With only the stock coil available for the T2, this is mostly a non-issue till the release of other coils. ;-)
On the other hand, in a relatively high-end machine, it is these "little things" that can go a long ways towards impressing an owner with the quality, durability and functionality of a machine. Hone these subtle fine points, and you'll find your detector ranks higher because of the attention to detail and investment in quality "stuff". Nobody much sees the innards. All they have to go by are the looks, heft, and "feel". I think the T2 is a step in the right direction, but the concept could be taken further. Nuff said!
Battery compartment is a winner all around. Best I've seen on an MD. Saying goodbye to 9 volt batteries is a godsend. Love the switch and volume! I easily added that to my TR, but that machine should have come with it.
I'd rather have the T2's volume/switch located on the control box, though. Also, not much to show the dang thing's even turned on! The TR's screen is blank till powered, so a glance shows status of power. One might leave the T2 turned on and not necessarily know it, with all the always-on graphics. I'll figure it out to look for the battery strength to tell.
Attachment ears on the coil seem thin, but we shall see, I think they'll hold. The plastic bolt on mine was too short to fully engage the knob for really secure coil fastening. This is an issue, but I'll just find a non-metallic replacement in the hardware store plumbing section or my junk drawer. Maybe the other end of the shaft was inserted too far into its knob. Without adequate length of shaft to grab the knob, the threads will strip. Shoulda been a bit longer.
Despite those negs, I don't think it's a pansy. Though it's light, it doesn't seem flimsy or like it might fail in the field. Reasonable care should yield a lifetime of hunting. Any looseness of parts over time looks like it can be tightened up with the screws. My TR has proven itself to be rugged and has taken a few rolls and tumbles in stride. I wouldn't use either machine as a canoe paddle. Open loop coil, ya know? In an emergency, who knows? They might paddle just fine in all metal mode. ;-) But I think it'll be okay in the field. The TR, with it's roundish outline, would tend to roll down a slope, while the T2's oval coil, when laid on its long side lends a lot to helping keep it put.
GB in the yard was a breeze. First try was super fast and easy. Another winner so far. I didn't note ground or iron readings, getting dark, cold and windy. This is just first impressions, not too specific on anything till I try it more. It will be fun to test my property for iron and minerals. I know it's highly varied here.
Controls. At first blush, I prefer the individual pushbuttons/controls of the Time Ranger, plus the fact all those settings are always visible and adjustable without stepping through menus. The T2 does not display disc settings, modes, etc. constantly so one might know at a glance where everything's set. If you forget your settings, you must navigate the menus to remind yourself. But, menu navigation is easy, so push/push/push and you're reminded. I'm not as used to a menu-driven, minimal-button interface, as other detectorists might be.
The T2's ID goes blank in a few seconds, while the TR keeps the last ID indefinitely till the next target. It's nice to detect in odd positions, or air-sweep something by the coil, then go to the display for the ID. Gotta be quick on the T2. This display "hold time" should be lengthened a second or two.
However, to be fair, with the TR, in faint signal situations, it was sometimes hard to tell if additional sweeps had acquired anything new, so sometimes I had to "clear' the ID by scanning a junk item to change it.
Again, the custom notch feature of the TR is a plus. The T2 lacks this, having only progressive disc. I usually hunt with disc as low as I can stand anyway, and rely on tone/ID, so this may be somewhat moot.
I think I like all coins, including nickels, having a high tone. I know the wife does for sure. She has a hard time remembering how to run the TR. She'll love this machine once she gets a chance to try it. An option for "BH-style" tones that puts nickels low might be cool too.
It's entirely possible that an additional "expert menu" could be added to future designs to accomodate some of these little operating tweaks. About that time, it might be good to also add a "save" feature to set one's own defaults for everything, with an option to return to factory settings if things get out of control.
On the T2, the wonderful, wide range of the detented, digital control and ability to return to a specific setting is nice. ID number and Disc numbers match, that's really, really cool. Somebody was using their noodle in designing this puppy.
The TR is also easy to return to specific settings. But the TR disc is in wide, preset chunks and not in fine increments like on the T2. Quick and effective in the field though. Stab a disc preset and proceed. No more iron. Stab again. No more foil.
That's just another reason to keep both machines in the arsenal. I wanted to keep the TR anyway, it's good to find some justification to do so!
Speaker's in a wierd place, hard to hear. For myself, I think I'd run a cord and velcro a small external speaker jobbie onto the control head or somewhere that it faces me. I wear eyeglasses and don't care to use headphones for long periods.
Some of the audio tones remind me of the Gold Bug. I think the T2 will tell you a lot more, once you learn the Alien's language.
The overload alert sounds like a K-Mart Blue Light Special, lol! We know it's a large signal alert, but I bet uneducated bystanders think it's the "Motherlode" being discovered! Makes me laugh hearing it! I can imagine me detecting on a crowded beach. Suddenly, WEEOOOWEEOOWEEOO- "Grab a shovel boys, Ed's found the big one!!" Then, moments later, "Damn! another freakin' 81! awww..."
Maybe they can adjust this so it only sounds off on Atocha-sized treasures, LOL!
Some objects made multiple blips going past the coil, but the center's always pretty obvious. Pinpointing is good in Disc and even better with no-motion. I like the trigger switchover to true no-motion all-metal. Much better than the awkward finger-stab and pause for GB that the TR requires. Maybe it's because I'm a lefty that I find that switch to no-motion and back to disc on the TR difficult to make.
Some small gold nuggets together in a vial gave an impressive (for their size) 3 to 4" distance. It also read a stony meteorite with no problems. Good, very good. Taking the largest individual nug, the T2 read it at 1 5/8", while it had to be moved closer than that for the Gold bug to pick it up with the same relative strength. The Time Ranger with 4" coil did not make a peep on this nug, which, incidentally, was found with the Gold Bug being tested here.
To give credit where's it's due, a very tiny flake nugget that would not detect on the T2 in disc mode, did make a small peep when scrubbed on the Gold Bug's stock coil.
And on the other hand, by pushing the T2's switch to pinpoint no-motion mode, it added another full inch to the depth of my air test, easily beating, by that inch or more, the GB1's best figure of 1.5 inches. Indoor interferance and hand capacitance stopped me from testing the tiniest nugs very well in pinpoint mode. It might prove hard to utilize this sensitivity in the field, but it's sure nice to see it available to tap if conditions are right, to where things can be cranked up near the max without falsing. Another Big Wow.
For any "coinshooter" machine to compare favorably to the Gold Bug 1 on small nugs in air tests is a definite plus. It may not do as well against the higher-frequency GB2, but I don't have that machine to compare against. Just going by the air tests so far on nugs and meteorites, I am suitably impressed.
The wife likes the Alien, too, but not so much we're ordering another immediately. Got that new big screen TV and my T2 to pay for first!
Well, that's the gist of my first impressions. Not bad for an hour or so of checking it out, eh? ;-) Took a whole lot longer to write it! Overall, pretty good score, I'm impressed, probably we got us a keeper. Worst thing thus far, beer can in the coin range. So, not sure if it'll replace the TR. The two machines each have their style, I feel it's worth it to have both. However, I'm already pretty sure the Gold Bug will be heading out the door. And that's a major statement in itself.
Thanks, Jeff! You've made my year!
-Ed
